How to keep your pumpkins fresh for longer without harming wildlife
For anyone who wants to adorn their living space with some seasonal gourds, Steph Gigliotti (@stephgigliotti28) has a hack that she swears will keep real pumpkins fresh for “1-2 months.”
Similar to the viral “Brunch with Babs” (@brunchwithbabs) tips for carving and preserving cut jack-o-lanterns, Gigliotti’s hack helps extend the life of a fresh pumpkin while still enjoying it all fall season long.
Soak and shine
According to Gigliotti, the secret to preserving a fresh — and uncut only — pumpkin is to first soak all sides of the pumpkin in a mixture of warm water and white vinegar for a minimum of 10 minutes. She recommends filling a kitchen sink with the mixture to fit the entire pumpkin in for soaking. For larger pumpkins, a bathtub could work.
“Make sure to get all the sides, then let them air dry,” she continues.
After the pumpkins have air dried, Gigliotti adds that you could go “one step further” and rub a coat of Vaseline over the entire pumpkin to make it last even longer. (Vaseline is also the secret that @brunchwithbabs recommends for rubbing on cut sides of the pumpkin for preservation.)
Once you have soaked, dried and rubbed down the pumpkin, Gigliotti says it will last 1-2 months.
Why vinegar?
White vinegar is a preferred pumpkin preserver because it can be effective in slowing down the decaying process of pumpkins while still being safe for wildlife.
Taste of Home explains that white vinegar kills fungus on the outside of the pumpkin, delaying the rotting that happens as a result of the fungi eating the pumpkin away.
Some pumpkin experts cite using a bleach mixture as another method to preserve fresh pumpkins. For instance, Tim’s Pumpkin Patch (@timspumpkinnpatch) in N.Y. claims that doing a bleach bath and regular bleach sprays resulted in a pumpkin lasting three years.
However, people who plan to recycle their pumpkins for wildlife should steer clear of the bleach method, because bleach harms wildlife that will eventually eat the pumpkins.
“We recycle ours for the wildlife so we can’t bleach,” noted @kaylin_taylorx.
Using vinegar instead of bleach as a pumpkin preserver also makes the pumpkin safe to compost.
And for anyone looking to get ahead for next year, Michelle Wahl (@thetealpotcompany) says that tossing an old pumpkin in the backyard could just result in an entire impromptu pumpkin patch the following year.
“I didn’t expect this to be the outcome, but I’m totally okay with it,” admitted Wahl.
In The Know by Yahoo is now available on Apple News — follow us here!
The post How to keep your pumpkins fresh for longer without harming wildlife appeared first on In The Know.
More from In The Know:
How to make a DIY version of Target's sold-out Halloween pumpkin decoration, Lewis
11 trendy fall jackets under $100 at Nordstrom that literally everyone can pull off
